Beach Tomato

Five of the Best: Vintage Hotels

Ever since the Mad Men phenomena took hold, mid-century modern design has never been hotter. Here, Estella Shardlow shares exclusively with us a round-up of the chicest hotels offering original 1950’s and ’60’s style in a beachside setting…

Once upon a time Brazil was a Mecca for mid-century modern design, and the luxurious Hotel Fasano doesn’t let us forget this. Its shell may be contemporary – this is the long-awaited first hotel to be entirely designed by Philippe Stark – but inside everything about this Brazilian boutique hotel evokes the Bossa Nova era when the resort first flourished – from iconic pieces by Sergio Rodrigues right down to the staff’s vintage-styled uniforms. Sun-worshippers will be thrilled with its oceanfront location on Impanema beach and the rooftop swimming pool.

Danish designer Verner Panton’s sleek fiberglass chairs are a long way from home in this boutique art hotel on the tiny Ionian island of Ithaca. Yet furniture by this mid-century master somehow looks just right in the interior of this classical, blue-washed villa. Add Persian carpets, muslin-draped four-poster beds and walls inscribed with Grecian poetry and the effect is marvelously eclectic.